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Like a vapor

I got a call from my mom the other day and she told me that her old friend from the neighborhood was recently diagnosed with cancer and was only given about 2 weeks to live and she is unsure if the woman knows the LORD GOD personally. Then a call about five minutes later was my mother again and she said, she has now been told that if she lives past 7 days she will be lucky. Last night I talked with my mom again and she told me she went to go visit Tony, the woman with cancer, and got to see first hand what this disease had done to her. As Tony lay there, she was apparently paralyzed throughout most of her body, but still had a huge smile on her face when her old friends from the neighborhood a few years back came to see her. My mom said from the second she walked in the door, she knew Tony was born again. She told her three good friends that there will be no crying in the hospital room, because she is about to go be with her Daddy. As one woman was fighting back the tears, she finally gave up and Tony looked to her and said, "I said there would be no crying here, I am going to a place I have waited for so long to go and this is a celebration for me." As my mom was about to walk out the door with the other two friends, Tony pulled her close to her mouth and said in her ear, "I get to go before yall do, but don't worry I will be waiting on yall" and her other friend said, my daughter is up there right now, to which Tony replied, "We'll both be waiting on you then and can't wait to see you soon."
I know that this life is but a vapor as God says in His Word, but I don't act like it often. If I knew the absolute brevity of this life, I would be loving like I have never loved before and praying like I've never prayed before and sharing Jesus like I never have before either. So often, I get caught up in what someone thinks about me or what kind of movie I want to rent the next night and end up taking this life for granite. The brevity of life should be something always on our minds and should turn us closer to the Father in absolute trust and dependence.
Yesterday, I was given a temporary sickness from the Father. I have been rebellious lately and have not been practicing what I preach. So as I was praying to God today, the Holy Spirit spoke to me and said that just as the shepherd must break the legs of the wandering sheep in order to show it his deep love which must be shown, the Good Shepherd has given me this cold to hinder me for a while and to put me up on His shoulders until He adequately heals me so that I may walk alongside Him knowing that He has the best for me always. There is no reason for me to blame the Father, but there is to praise and thank Him for helping me to walk closer with Him. I just want Him to hold me close to Himself now far from the problems of this world until He strengthens me enough and gives me wisdom to see that He is watching over me. God is good.

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